I saw today that Suh is saying Goodell suggested he appeal. If that is the case that makes the whole NFL diciplinary routine a farse. The only reason to appeal now is to continue playing while the process is going on. If the Commissioner is encouraging that, he is encouraging the run around of his process and HIS sanctions.

He really needs to hire someone to do some PR for him. He is making a bad situation so much worse.

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Actually his PR people are really crafty. This appeal process (though ironically it will also work and he'll likely get one game knocked off his two game suspension) is to appeal the severity of the punishment not the nature of act. But even if it was indisputable, by-the-book suspension it would have still been appealed, because the Player Union will ensure that none of its players ever miss the opportunity to exercise the process, if for no other reason that to try and catch the league (and Goodell) into doing something they can sue over - like denying the opportunity to appeal. That's 90% of the reason why we saw Goodell making a point to say that he "hopes" Suh takes advantage of all the due process that is available to him (i.e. that he hopes that if he wants to appeal that he does appeal); it's backhanded and neutral but it's also a huge sweeping stroke that doesn't give the Union anything to nitpick at.

But back to Suh's PR people, whoever is handling him is playing puppetmaster behind the scenes and doing it very successfully. He's got his client waist-deep in endorsement deals as this uncontrollable literal monster/beast on the field but a nice guy, teddy bear type off the field who really isn't out there to "hurt" anyone he's just "playing hard", basically they're trying to make him into another Mean Joe Green. Ask yourselves this... if Suh never actually went to NFL HQ to meet with Goodell (because he didn't, the meeting took place via conference call - at least that was what I'd heard), who gains the most from leaking that there was a meeting and getting all that publicity from the media? Of course it's Suh... and it fis right in with the image they're trying to craft for their Bridgestone Tires and so forth clients.

I saw today that Suh is saying Goodell suggested he appeal. If that is the case that makes the whole NFL diciplinary routine a farse. The only reason to appeal now is to continue playing while the process is going on. If the Commissioner is encouraging that, he is encouraging the run around of his process and HIS sanctions.

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If Goodell suggested that he appeal, it tells me he did not have the balls to confront Suh in a forceful manner. That would be an escape tactic to get out of a difficult situation or discussion.

If Goodell suggested that he appeal, it tells me he did not have the balls to confront Suh in a forceful manner. That would be an escape tactic to get out of a difficult situation or discussion.

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Um... read my post above. There's a lot of politics at play here. One side looking to catch the other in any position they can to gain leverage (for what at this point is a bit more of a mystery considering there won't be a new CBA negotiated for at least 10 more years, but still... leverage is leverage and it usually leads to seeking a bigger piece of the pie - i.e. money). Goodell's covering his bases. The appeal was going to happen regardless (the NFLPA presses its members to appeal EVERY suspension no matter how minor the punishment or tremendous the offense - Stallworth killed innocent people and they still pressed him to appeal his suspension), Goodell was simply making a politically-savvy (politics between ownership/league and players/union) statement that he "hopes Suh uses all the processes available to him."

How that gets twisted into Goodell told him to appeal is beyond me. Then again, too many fans want to irrationally point the onus of the hatred at Goodell for things such as rule changes and the fines levied on players when he's not the one doing that. He doesn't even sit on the competition committee which is responsible for those rule changes. People just love to have an easy scapegoat because it's easier than actually having to put in effort to understand a process that's more complex than "2+2=4".